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Once they reach a certain age, lots of women find motherhood exhausting1, but not Brooklyn-based Nina Keneally. The 63-year-old still has lots of ‘mothering skills’ that she’s actually more than happy to rent out through a unique service called ‘NeedAMom’. Her motto is “When you need a mom… Just not YOUR mom.”
许多女性到一定年龄后，会发现自身母性已经耗尽。但纽约布鲁克林的尼娜?吉妮莉可不是这样。今年63岁的她仍身负多种“母爱技能”，而且更乐于通过特有的“NeedAMom”服务出租出去。她的名言是“当你需要妈妈……但不是亲妈的时候”。
A former theatrical2 producer and drug-rehab counselor3 from Connecticut, Nina now spends all her time using her motherhood experience and her associate degree in counselling to help millennials in New York. For $40 an hour plus expenses, Nina will listen to all your problems, offer advice (free from ‘I told you so’), help you plan and shop for a dinner party, sew your buttons back on, bake you a cake, and do all sorts of other things a real mother might do. She’ll even buy and wrap a present for your actual mother.
尼娜曾经是一名戏剧制作人、一位戒毒顾问，而如今她凭借着做母亲的经验和准心理咨询学士学位，全身心为纽约的千禧一代提供帮助。只需每小时40美元（再加上其他费用），尼娜会倾听你的所有问题、为你提供建议（但绝不会出现“我告诉过你”之类的话语）、帮你筹划晚宴并购买相关物品、给你缝扣子、烤蛋糕，以及任何亲妈可能做的其他事情。她甚至会给你亲妈买礼物，并打好包装。
租妈
Nina and her husband moved to Bushwick, Brooklyn, from Connecticut two years ago, after 30-odd years of raising their own two sons. And she realised early on that young adults back home were different in many ways. “Connecticut millennials have other goals – it’s all about jobs, houses, permanent relationships,” she said. “They go into almost a young middle age. Here, it’s a more bohemian, artistic4 lifestyle.” But more freedom also leads to more problems, and Nina often found herself counselling millennials who reached out to her in yoga studios and cafes.
在花费30多年将两个儿子抚养成人后，两年前尼娜和她的丈夫从康涅狄克州搬到纽约布鲁克林的布什威克。她很早就意识到老家年轻人在很多方面的不同。“在康涅狄克州，千禧一代有不同的目标——都与工作、房子、人际关系有关”，她说道。“他们几乎算得上年轻的中年人。而在这里，人们走的是放荡不羁的艺术风格”。但自由越大问题也越多，尼娜经常会辅导瑜伽室、咖啡馆里认识的千禧一代。
“As I started to live in the neighborhood, do yoga and frequent coffee shops, I’ve noticed that a lot of young people in the neighborhood wanted to talk to me about what was going on in their lives,” she told Bushwick Daily. Like this one man who was upset over losing a job and ended up pouring his heart out to Nina over a cup of coffee. She ended up rewriting his resume5. Soon, so many young people were approaching her that Nina realised she could really help them by being a mother-figure in their lives. And that’s how NeedAMom was born. It’s a fairly new business and she’s had about six clients6 so far, all from Bushwick.
“我住进小区后，做瑜伽、频繁出入咖啡店。我注意到邻近的许多年轻人喜欢和我谈谈他们的生活”，她向《布什威克日报》讲到。一个因为失业而沮丧的年轻人和尼娜一边喝着咖啡，一边倾诉内心的苦恼。最后，她给这个年轻人重写了简历。很快，许多年轻人来找她。尼娜想到，自己可以以母亲的形象帮助他们。而这就是NeedAMom的起源。这是一项新服务。到目前为止尼娜共有6名客户，均来自布什威克。
Nina’s biggest ESP is perhaps her unconditional7 empathy. “I’m not judgmental about anybody’s life choices; I don’t compare them to their brothers and sisters,” she said. “I have a therapeutic8 background, although I’m not a therapist9. I can talk you through it but if you have a serious problem, I have a list of resources and can send you to a doctor or a specialist.”
无条件的感同身受可能是尼娜最强大的超感官知觉。“我不会判断任何人生活选择的对错，不将他们与兄弟姐妹做比较”，她说。“尽管我不是治疗师，但我有心理治疗教育背景。我可以通过聊天帮你解开心结。但如果问题太严重，我这里有各种资源，可以送你去看医生或专家。”
“All the friends and people around me are the same age, and shrinks10 are just kinda impersonal,” said 34-year-old Natalie Chan, who sees Nina once a week after their Thursday yoga class. “She doesn’t judge. She’s just kinda, like, smiles and says, ‘Stop doing that.’ She’ll never say, ‘You’re stupid.’”
“朋友和身边的人都年龄相仿，而精神病学家则有点不近人情，”现年34岁的娜塔莉?陈说道。每周四瑜伽课后，她都会和尼娜见一次面。”她不会判定你的对错。她只会微笑着，告诉你‘别再那么做了’。她从来不说，‘你真蠢’”。
Nina doesn’t have a fixed11 price list yet, so for now, everything she does for you will cost $40 an hour, right from bringing you chicken soup when you’re sick to watching a movie with you. But she draws the line at cleaning – “Don’t expect me to clean your closet or do your laundry,” she says. “I’m not your maid!”
由于目前还没有固定的价目表，因此尼娜的任何服务价钱都是40美元/小时，从为病床上的你端来鸡汤到陪你看电影。但对于打扫卫生她一概谢绝—— “别想我给你打扫壁橱、洗衣服，我可不是女仆！”
Vocabulary
associate degree: 美国大学修满二年课程的肄业证书
bohemian: 放荡不羁的
shrink: 精神病医生
impersonal: 没有人情味的
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1
exhausting
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| a.疲倦的 | |
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theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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counselor
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| n.顾问，法律顾问 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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resume
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| v.（中断后）继续，恢复；n.摘要，简历 | |
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clients
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| n.顾客( client的名词复数 )；当事人；诉讼委托人；[计算机]客户端 | |
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unconditional
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| adj.无条件的，无限制的，绝对的 | |
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therapeutic
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| adj.治疗的，起治疗作用的；对身心健康有益的 | |
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therapist
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| n.治疗专家 | |
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shrinks
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| v.收缩( shrink的第三人称单数 )；（使）缩水；退缩；畏缩 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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